The Environmental Council of the States' Annual Meeting is Under Way in Kennebunkport.
Posted on: Thursday, 8 September 2005, 12:00 CDT
Top environmental officials from almost every state in the country are gathering here to share ideas for cleaning the air and water - and in some cases to apply pressure to neighbors and the federal government. The Environmental Council of the States' annual meeting began Wednesday and continues through Friday at The Colony Hotel. The meeting includes sessions ranging from funding sources for state environmental agencies to waste-management policies.
"This is an opportunity for us to come together and try to shape national policy," said Maine Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Dawn Gallagher. "There's power in numbers."
It's the states, not the federal government, that come up with innovative solutions to environmental problems, Gallagher said. Maine, for example, is among the first states to require electronics manufacturers to pay for the recycling of televisions and computer monitors, waste items that contain a range of toxic compounds. Congress is considering a similar federal policy.
New England states also have joined together to try to control air pollution that contributes to climate change and to fight mercury pollution, much of which blows into the region from the south and Midwest.
Gallagher said the meeting also is an opportunity for Maine officials to keep pressing other state and federal agencies for more controls on out-of-state mercury releases that contaminate lakes and freshwater fish here.
"We have done everything that we can to reduce mercury in this state," she said. "What we need is action from the Midwest states to reduce the amount of mercury coming in."
Bob Varney, the regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is attending the meeting as well. He said the federal government has supported and funded state and regional programs, including New England's efforts to control so-called greenhouse gas pollution. "We've been active partners with them," he said.
Varney said the federal government is making good progress on issues such as mercury pollution, despite the criticism from Maine and other New England states.
"There are states who want those cuts to be deeper and faster," he said. "But you have other parts of the country that don't agree with the states in New England."
Hurricane Katrina also is a topic at the meeting. The EPA is starting to address the major environmental problems caused by the disaster, including the toxic water and wastes in New Orleans and massive amounts of debris and polluted sediment that will be left behind in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791 - 6324 or at:
jrichardson@pressherald.com
Source: Portland Press Herald
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